The Orange City Council Tuesday changed a personnel policy dealing with reimbursing employees for higher education tuition. The council unanimously voted in favor of a suggestion from City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre to base tuition reimbursement on what a “brick and mortar” state school like Lamar University would charge for a course.
Oubre said online, for-profit colleges courses are getting more expensive than traditional state colleges. The city for many years has had a policy of reimbursing non-contract city employees for higher education tuition for a maximum six hours per semester. Oubre said the courses are taken on the employee’s personal time and not during working hours.
Also, the council changed the policy to now require that an employee stay with the city for at least a year after receiving a tuition reimbursement. If the employee leaves before that time, they will have to pay back the city.
The council voted to buy 166 radio-read water meters for $42,500 from BDS Constructors. Public Works Director Jim Wolf said the company had the lowest bid.
The city has been buying radio-read meters for the past few years. The meters allow city employees with remote equipment to get water use readings. Wolf said it saves employees from having to jump fences and face dogs to get reading.
He said the city currently has about 2,700 radio-read meters for residential and commercial customers. The city has a total of approximately 7,500 water meter connections.
In other business, the council voted to have the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau pay the city $350,000 to lease space at city hall for 10 years. The Convention and Visitors Bureau is financed by the city’s hotel occupancy tax paid by people who stay in the local hotels.
Economic Development Director Jay Trahan, who oversees the bureau, said the city has allowed the bureau to have office space in the carriage house behind city hall, which was built as a residential mansion in the 1920s.
The city council last year voted to move from the historic building in downtown to the First Financial Bank building on 16th Street. Trahan said the 10-year lease will cover the Convention and Visitors Bureau moving with city hall to 16th Street.
The city will not move city hall to 16th Street until the bank constructs a new building and moves.
During the citizen comments time, Arthur Newman with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council invited people to attend a Town Hall Meeting in Beaumont concerning prescription opioid abuse problems. The meeting will be on Wednesday, July 19, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the MCM Elegante Hotel, 2355 Interstate 10. He said the meeting will be helpful for medical personnel, EMTs, pharmacists, police officers and other first responders.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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